Beerguy:I know I end up spending more money, but I quit going to Walmart about a year ago. Not having herds of screaming kids surrounding me and not waiting at checkout for 30 minutes....priceless.

It's not even that much more money. The way I see it, it's an investment in sanity. Better to spend a few extra bucks and just avoid the screeching crotchfruit and muffin-top skanks entirely. I'm not even a snob - all I know is that whenever I go to Wal-Mart, my blood pressure rises. Why do that to yourself to save a few bucks?

dickfreckle:Beerguy: I know I end up spending more money, but I quit going to Walmart about a year ago. Not having herds of screaming kids surrounding me and not waiting at checkout for 30 minutes....priceless.

It's not even that much more money. The way I see it, it's an investment in sanity. Better to spend a few extra bucks and just avoid the screeching crotchfruit and muffin-top skanks entirely. I'm not even a snob - all I know is that whenever I go to Wal-Mart, my blood pressure rises. Why do that to yourself to save a few bucks?

Because many people do not feel compelled to try to make some sort of statement while buying their toothpaste and shiatpaper.

I go to Walmart sometimes. If I'm at work, it's the closest place (by a decent margin) to buy the types of things one generally buys at Walmart. It's also conveniently located to a number of reasonable lunch options, and it has a self-checkout which allows me to walk in, grab what I need, pay, and walk out in about 3 minutes flat, and the maximum amount of human interaction I have to endure is the tired looking old man by the door telling me to have a nice day.

Beerguy:dickfreckle: Beerguy: I know I end up spending more money, but I quit going to Walmart about a year ago. Not having herds of screaming kids surrounding me and not waiting at checkout for 30 minutes....priceless.

It's not even that much more money. The way I see it, it's an investment in sanity. Better to spend a few extra bucks and just avoid the screeching crotchfruit and muffin-top skanks entirely. I'm not even a snob - all I know is that whenever I go to Wal-Mart, my blood pressure rises. Why do that to yourself to save a few bucks?

Exactly.

This.

You have to put a value on your time, and your comfort. Here in Houston, every Walmart is a roach motel. There is a Walmart down the street from my house, and I refuse to go anywhere near that place. I'll drive the extra 15 minutes to Whole Foods, or even the "fancy" HEB in the Heights.

Why are there 50 farking registers and they only have 5 open?

There are times I'd wish Walmart would just go away, but then that would mean all of the 19 year old girls with 5 kids, two of which are screaming at the top of their lungs, would start shopping at the nicer places...then I just shut my mouth about it.

Because it is often the cheapest place to shop at, and for many people, price is the only index that concerns them. Quality and durability of product, cleanliness and efficiency of the store just don't matter as much.

Regular full-time distribution center employees get paid about $16 bucks to start. If you're taking a temp job in such a place, you're getting about $10 an hour with no benefits and that makes you quite foolish.

Needed some Drano, kids vitamins, a box of Wheaties, some frozen dinners and a couple bags of cheap cat litter. I picked up a bag of seedless oranges while I was there, but that was the extent of the impulse shopping.

Used the self-checkout, in and out in under 30 minutes, and it was just 5 minutes from my house. Sure, they treat their employees like shiat and buy lots of crap from China, but so do all the other bog box stores and most of the major chain supermarkets.

Uh no.Try "Because people like to save money," and you'll be close to the truth.Also, a Sam's Club membership will pay for itself in gasoline price savings alone across a year's time.Call them evil or whatever, but all Walmart ever did was find efficiencies where other big-boxers and national chains did not.

/I realize there are people who are programmed to fight all things Walmart with every fiber of their being, but don't bother coming at me, 'cause it's a waste of your time.

Distribution center jobs, all of them, are hard, hard work. The regular employees start at around $16 an hour with full benefits, and the raises come fairly quickly to those who can hack it. There are strength and agility screening tests to get those jobs, unlike the open admissions requirements to the ideological bodegas of Whole Paycheck Foods and etc.

I only go to wally mart if its an emergency, like last month when a fan died ( we dont have air conditioning ) and it was after ten so the target was closed and the wally world the next valley over was still open.Oh, yes, at 2300 hrs it was over 90 here so ..... fan purchased and the person who really needed it didnt die from the heat.

As for food, I just shop at local places. No Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Wegmans or crap like that. Just regular ol' regional grocery stores. Although national grocery chains tend to be much better to their employees than national retail chains for some reason. I've heard nothing but good things from people who have worked at Wegmans and Whole Foods.

Mike Chewbacca:But the comment was about the working CONDITIONS, not the work itself. Having to get in early, leave late, and skip lunch is illegal for a reason.

I tended bar for many years, often in 12 hour shifts. LOL at "lunch (or meal) breaks." My first gig outside the business came with a fairly lengthy lunch break and I remember not knowing what to do with myself the first few days. You mean I can leave and just go fark around for 45 minutes? Why don't I just stay here and keep working? It had been years since I didn't bust my ass for 8-12 hours straight without even sitting down and catching a breath.

Sometimes I want to pick up ice cream, a video game, and a lego set at 3 in the morning. Walmart is the only store that caters to my shopping preferences.

I'll never forget the first time I went shopping at a 24 Hour Wal-Mart late at night. Roommate and I at college got all drunkened up and decided we desperately needed Hot Pockets or whatever at like 2 in the morning. We we drive to Wal-Mart, and there are like 50 shoppers in the place. Mom and a couple kids with a cart full of groceries. Someone trying to decide what lamp to buy.

Blew my mind. Could not figure out what these people were doing there at that hour.

For those still wondering why anyone would shop there, our business buys name brand motor oil, coolant and other automotive fluids there to the tune of $300+ a month. I can't find anyone to sell us oil by the 5-gallon drum, so 5-quart bottles from Walmart by the cart load it is.I think lots of small businesses shop at Walmart.

As for food, I just shop at local places. No Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Wegmans or crap like that. Just regular ol' regional grocery stores. Although national grocery chains tend to be much better to their employees than national retail chains for some reason. I've heard nothing but good things from people who have worked at Wegmans and Whole Foods.

National grocery chains are maybe a quarter-step up from Wal-Mart in how they treat their employees.

mainstreet62:I am trying to fight Walmart from muscling it's way into my community, so I'm getting a kick.

/until Walmart pays off the right politicians

I never understand this, they will just open somewhere else close by and people that were going to shop there will still go there to shop and force out smaller, more expensive places, maybe if those places didnt put profits over customers then maybe they would survive.

The issue of the article is the temp agency making the rules, not wal mart but everyone on fark likes to hate on Wal Mart now..........Its like fark has become democratic underground junior with just a fewer less crazy leftists....just a fewer.

I shop at Wal-Mart all the time for sporting goods (Golf, fishing, ammo, etc.) and toys for the little Propains. Prices and selection are good. I think you're a moron if you are paying a higher price for the same crap.

When will Wal-Mart learn that we citizens will NOT rest until they become a non-profit, selling merchandise as a public service?

We don't expect them to be non-profit. However we expect them to make the profit from their volume of sales, not by wringing out their employees. A recent study showed that they could pay their store workers $10/hour and supply health insurance for a cost of 50 cents/order (that's order, not item). Not doing so is just a dick move. We have a Fred Meyers and a Walmart in our town. Fred's pays 1.5X what Walmart does and gives vacation and sick time as well as health insurance to their employees without having significantly higher prices. The only people who shop at Walmart are the military people who are familiar with it and not Fred's.